How EA Stole The App Store

It was the Christmas that EA stole the App Store. Electronic Arts' COO John Schappert recently spoke out about the company's "record breaking quarter on iOS" during EA's Q3 earnings call. Schappert attributed most of the success to an extraordinarily well-timed holiday sale.
If you spent any time lurking around the App Store this holiday season, you probably noticed that EA launched a massive ninety-nine cent app sale for the majority of its iOS catalog. Even premium titles like MADDEN NFL 11 for iPad dropped from $12.99 to only a buck.

So what did EA get out of the deal? According to joystiq.com, Schappert elaborates that the sale allowed several EA titles to earn a prominent position on the App Store's Top Paid chart, which not-so-coincidently gets frozen in place by Apple every year during the biggest week of the holiday season (from 12/23-12/29 in 2010).

In December, a well-timed promotion of our iPhone and iPad games resulted in an unprecedented share and chart position for our titles. The day after Christmas, the millions who were activating their new devices, EA held 14 of the top 25 paid apps for the iPhone and 15 of the top 25 paid apps for the iPad. Needless to say we had a record-breaking quarter on iOS. Each of these devices represents a new platform, a new revenue stream, and millions of new consumers.

This savvy business move fueled sales for EA, giving the company an edge over competitors that weren't expecting the massive price drop. This sneaky tactic allowed EA to claim to be the #1 publisher on the App Store during the holiday season.
The story may sound a little Grinch-like to some of you, but it certainly resulted in some great deals. Which EA titles did you by over the holiday season? Let us know in the comments.